{"id":704,"date":"2020-11-21T02:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T02:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/?p=704"},"modified":"2021-05-20T07:10:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T07:10:38","slug":"teachers-and-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/11\/21\/teachers-and-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers and the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No educational system can stand without its teachers \u2014 be it the\ngroup that goes door to door teaching children caught in lockdowns, or the lone\nwoman who sings poems online for her very young students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New ways of teaching, engaging with students and communicating\nwith parents, despite the pressures of being at home with families and the\nthreat of losing jobs\u2026the virus has brought out the best in many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We managed to talk to Ms Archana Vangol<\/strong>, a kindergarten teacher from Pune, about the dramatic changes that the pandemic brought into her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ms Archana Vangol<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How long have you been teaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been teaching preschoolers for close to a decade now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us how you teach.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am like a child myself, I think. I use humor to connect with\nlittle kids and can be with them on their level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, I let them run around in class and yet keep them bound to\ncertain rules. I have leaned on my love for dancing to make simple little\nstories and songs so my children learn both language and dance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know there\u2019s a lot wrong with the current system and syllabus,\nbut in my eyes, a child is a child\u2026my faith in my work \u2014 in how I help the\nlittle ones learn, fearlessly and without bias \u2014 has reflected well on my\nstudents.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did the pandemic affect you and how did you deal with the\nchallenges that came with it? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was shocked when I got laid off in June this year. I was very\ndisheartened because the thought that I wouldn\u2019t be able to teach my toddlers\nagain kept pulling me down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacher in me bounced back when my helper got her son home one\nday. I started teaching the little boy and realized that this was a new\ndirection in my life. And I followed it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started teaching five-year-olds online. Many parents later came\nto me urging me to teach phonics to their children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew nothing about phonics. It was a big challenge for me. I\nstarted looking at the Internet to find ways to teach phonics, and it just\nbegan like that. It\u2019s been three months now and am well-versed with many\nthings, and my students are able to read sentences well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you gather support from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From my little students, and their parents. The Internet was a big\nhelp too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was there any help from the school or the Education Ministry,\neither in upskilling or helping you find another job?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you see yourself a couple of years down the line?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until someone comes up with an effective vaccine, parents are not\ngoing to send their children to school. So it\u2019s going to be online teaching\nnow, perhaps for some time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see myself starting my own school later. I have always looked at\nlife with a great deal of positivity. Whatever happens, happens for the\nbest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No educational system can stand without its teachers \u2014 be it the group that goes door to door teaching children caught in lockdowns, or the lone woman who sings poems online for her very young students.  New ways of teaching, engaging with students and communicating with parents, despite the pressures of being at home with…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/span>+<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[31,12,11,77,13],"class_list":["post-704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teachers","tag-all-posts","tag-best-practices","tag-education-challenges","tag-silverpi-dyse-issue-001","tag-teaching-and-me"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silverpi.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}